Esbjerg City FC
Esbjerg City F.C. is a danish club, currently playing in the best league in Denmark, Superligaen. The club is among the oldest in Denmark and has existed since 24 april 2006, from the middle of season 1. From a hard start in the middle of season 1 with focus on setling into the game, the manager TFisch decided to make a 2 string plan for the club. * Immediately succes through new players and * Long term succes through development of youth (both own growm and talented players found elsewhere) This strategy has proven itself (4 championship and 5 Cup victories in 9 seasons) and is still the one to follow at Victorious Ground hosting 38.900 fans. 'Club History' The club was founded with a base from the real life clubs Esbjerg fB and Stoke City FC. This lay the ground for the club name Esbjerg City FC, and the stadium was named after the legendary Victoria Ground - with a little change it became Victorious Ground currently at a capacity of 38.900. As a starting point the defense was choosen to be the strength to build on and 3 very important players was bought to found that: * Avni Alemdar, central defender was bought for £642.000 from explosivedynamits only 4 days after TFisch took control. * Dejan Vukojevic, a very talented goalkeeper arrived next day from OGRE UNITED at the cost of £153.000, and last * Gheorghe Lucan, a old experienced defensive midfielder (now retired) was brought in from Red Star Frenzy for £193.000 These 3 players became the stalwart backbone of the team over the coming seasons. 'Season 1' In the middle of season 1 Esbjerg City FC was founded and started out in second best league in Denmark - 1.Division B, and took over a team in the bottom 4 after 9 games. Hard work from the new players and actions on the transfermarket lifted the club to 4'th position at the end of the season, 2 points short of a play-off game. Because it was the first season and many managers had gone inactive over the season, the game admin's decided to do a 'league cleanup' removing inactive managers and filling free slots with the best clubs below. This was lucky for the club and they got one of the last seats in the Superligaen. Besides the league the club managed to go all the way in the Danish National Cup beating Fevre fB in the final. At the end of season 1 the club rating was raised from 10 to 57. 'Season 2' Only promoted to the very best league with the mercy of the administrators, it looked to be a tough season. Besides league matches, the club faced the international Challenge Cup and of course defending the cup title. To strengthen the squad new players was brought in: * Valentin Zivkovic, striker for a splashing £1.459.000 should help the aging Palle Nissen * Florencio Aragon, a very talented Mexican central midfielder All along with Dejan, Avni and Lucan some of the 'own grown' players had raised to the challenge. Especially Steen Aaby on the midfield improved his skills often and stood out as one the more important players. In the Challenge Cup the first game was lost 1-2 to United States Arsenal FC. Half way through the league the club was topfliers with zero goals conceded (praise to Dejan and Avni). Continuing with strong defense into the second half of the season saw the club crowned as champions with 3 games left and a 12 points lead. Defending the Cup title was hard, a small 1-0 victory against Emmenthaler in the quarterfinal. The semifinal was even harder, 0-0 after both 90 minutes and extra time - but a victory 3-1 in the penalty shootout. In the final Breakfast F.C was the opponent and it was allmost the same as in the semi, no goals after 90 minutes but Werner Elbaek scored the deciding goal for Breakfast after 113 minutes. At the end of season 2 the club rating was raised from 57 to 126. 'Season 3' With the championship in the first season ever in the Superligaen, the ambition was high for the 3'rd season. At least 1 title (championship or cup title), but the double was the goal of the season. And of course to give a good figure in the Champions Cup. A few players brought in to strengthen the team: * Oskar Dahl, a talented right midfielder was bought from Superliga promoted Thedalgaards at a price of £1.000.000 * Kivi Koskinen, young upcoming striker from Golden World Team. Price £1.315.000 A great 9-0 victory in the first league match gave a lot of confidence, but was followed up by a 0-0 draw against season 2 bronze winners Emmenthaler in the second match. In the 6'th match FC Elg (placed 3'rd) visited The Vic and went home with a 1-0 victory and at top of the table. Despite 7 draws (and the defeat to FC Elg) Esbjerg City FC was on top of the table with a 4 point lead after 22 games, and only 2 games remaining. The last 2 games was away games against Fragglestars and Feinheimlechter Inc., placed 8 and 4. The cup final was played after league match 20 and Esbjerg City FC won agaist Breakfast F.C after extra time and penalty shootout. One title home and 2 matches to take the double - just 1 win needed! But the first game was lost to Fragglestars 2-0. And in the last game Feinheimlechter Inc. took the lead through a penalty in the 42 minute: * min Feinheimlechter Inc. Penalty! ... Samuel Niebuhr takes it ... GOAL! * min Esbjerg City FC. That's a foul! ... Avni Alemdar deliberately knocked Lorens Praestegaard to the ground! From there 2 more goals was needed, but only one came and the championship was changed to silver. The Champions Cup debut was againgst Teamscout, a great club and Esbjerg City FC was underdog in that game. Despite that a fantastic 3-1 victory came based on a attacking right wing Golub Stjepovic. In the second game another big team was faced De Rode Leeuwen with a respectable 0-1 defeat as a result. At the end of season 3 the club rating was raised from 126 to 198. 'Season 4' A season with a lot of victories and a stunning youth department. At the beginning of the season 3 very talented and 1 superstar youngster showed up. In season 3 one of the major problem was lack of goals, so a search for strikers resulted in the signing of * Abdulah Emkic, a 31 years old very experienced striker with rating 26 for a £3.000.000 from HNK Orašje. * Hyun Soo Hwangbo, a 25 years old striker with rating 21 for a £2.060.000 from Zen Ortigler. * Young Jae Ha, a 22 years old striker with rating 23 for a £1.504.000 from FC Marlboro. Emkic was the immediately needed reinforcement, Jae Ha backup and Hwangbo bought for the future. In the league we had only 2 losses and 3 draws. Both lost games was to Breakfast F.C. But they ended 3'rd, just after Esbjerg City F.C. - the championship was won by Thedalgaards. A great run in the Challenge Cup ended in the 4'rd round with a defeat to season 3 Challenge Cup winners F.C. Prazilia. The Danish National Cup was won for the 3 time against Thedalgaards in the final, on the road to the final Breakfast F.C was defeated. At the end of season 4 the club rating was raised from 198 to 282. 'Season 5' New season, new hope, new players! In the end of season 4 a new goalie came to the club Giovane De Queiroz, a 21 years old promising keeper from Brazil (rating 32) for a sum of £2.999.999. For the midfield Jean Silvasean, an experienced MC was bought for £3.400.000 to help until the youngsters Karl Fisker and Pedro Juarez reached first team level. Late in the season Milija Beric, a 30 years DR was scouted and attached to the club to bring experience to the right back until the young Serrano is ready. All these players was bought in the hope that they could bring the championship to Victoriuos Ground, but early in the season Breakfast F.C took the lead and Thedalgaards and Esbjerg City FC struggled to follow. Half through the season they had a 5 points lead and even though we got closer they took the championship and Esbjerg City FC got a 3'rd silvermedal. In the Danish National Cup the glory was found and the 4'rd cup trophy was brought back to Victorious Ground with a 1-0 victory against Helsingør IF. The Challenge Cup gave first 2 victories against Ankh Morpork Wizzards and FC L. Sielnica, but in the 3 round we faced glorious season 4 winners of the Champions Cup: Mambas from Portugal. To no surprice it resulted in a defeat. At the end of season 5 the club rating was raised from 282 to 366. 'Season 6' A new season and Esbjerg City FC again ready for international competition. And will try to take the double! To do all that a few enforcements was needed. Our young finnish striker Jesse Hamalainen told about the great finnish NT striker Antti Harju, who played for Academia Golden World Team. After checking him out we found that his teammate, the defender Mario Pinto was interesting too. And in a double deal we bought both for 8.3 million and 4.0 million £. Besides them we found a young superstar defender Leonardo Rolando Eiriz, playing for Nebula Mania Spor Klübü and we bought him for 7 million £. With that we felt ready to take on the world! National league first, half way through the season ... And despite only getting 1 point against number 2 Breakfast FC, we won the championship with a 5 points lead. On the other hand, they was the hardest team for us to compete with and in the Danish National Cup they beat us in the quarter final. And for the first time ever we missed the final. In the Challenge Cup we was pretty lucky with the draw and got 2 victories before we lost to the Uruguay side Los Angeles Caidos with 2-3 after extra time. At the end of season 6 the club rating was raised from 366 to 426. 'Season 7' We hopeed for more glory in all competitions. Superligaen, the Danish National Cup and the Champions Cup. For this season we have strengthen the squad with 2 superstars: * world cup best player, Estonian defender Henno Osanik from Narva Veehoidla United for a splashing 15 million £ * left midfielder Timon Augustin from Slovenia for 5.1 million £. At the end we could look back at: another Championship, quarter final in the Champion Cup but a early loss on the national cup. Season 7 took the club rating from 426 to 490. 'Current Season' Season 8 is coming ... Once again we participate in the Champions Cup and reached the quarte final. Ragusa Pirates became our destiny in a 0-2 defeat where we missed Vitor Hugo Sarda. In Superligaen we are at a state where only 7 games is missing and we are lacking 4 points to number 1 Helsingør IF. It is very obvious that the superliga has reach a level there the competion is stronger. Now all top team can loose to every team in the division, in that perspective a 2'nd spot would be accepted - but we NEED to play international next season too. In the Danish National Cup we are as far as last 16 facing Nordals Drenge marts the 31. No particular inforcements was bought for season 8. 'Trophy Room' Winner of Superligaen in season 2, 6 and 7. Winner of the Danish National Cup Season 1, 3, 4 and 5. Winner of the Youth League Season 8. 'Club Records' Biggest win: 22-0 against Thise Topgunz in Superligaen (18/6-2008) Biggest loss: 0-4 to F.C. Prazilia in Challenge Cup (19/7-2007), and to Mambas in Challenge Cup (6/12-2007) Most games played: Steen Aaby with 190 games, 128 league games, 47 cup games, 6 Champions Cup games, 9 Challenge Cup games Most goals scored: updated 20/2-2010 (end of season 10) 'The Investment' To follow the 2-string way to succes both players and facilities has been bought. 'Facilities' *'Stadium', Victorious Ground with a capacity of 23.500 with Superb quality grass with sprinkler and cover systems installation. *'Big fanshop' to serve that massive fanbase. *'Training ground' pitch with 2 small pitches and luxury dressing room. *'Youth academy' with own training grounds. *'Fitness center' big modern fitness centre. *'Research facility' with high-tech equipment and software. *'Media center' is a small press centre. 'Youth department' To develop the youth players the youth academy was build at the start of season 6. Before that the base was a well skilled youth coach, talented players and a scouting system that brought young stars the the team. *'Per Nielsen', striker, started at an age of 13 in season 1 (was sold to Gannovat FC for 6.75 millions at the start of season 7). *'Karl Fisker', a very special central midfielder - the superstar of the youth team, started at an age of 14 in season 1. *'Axel Nielsen', striker, started at an age of 14 in season 1 (was sold for 2.3 millions at season 5 end). *'Christian Guldbrandsen', keeper, started in the team at an age of 14 in season 1. *'Bert Johansen', left defender, started at an age of 15 in season 1. *'Ulrik Thygesen', central defender, started at an age of 16 in season 1. Sold to Sporting Guns N' Roses at the end of season 6 for £3.000.000 *'Stinus Gregersen', very talented left defender, started in the team at an age of 16 in season 1 (sold to Football Club Romeous 1970 for £903.000 at the end of season 3). *'Thor Pedersen', central midfielder, started at an age of 17 in season 1. *'Jannick Kirkeby', very talented left defender, started in the team at an age of 16 in season 1 (sold to Boavista Team for only £264.000 at the beginning of season 4). *'Boy From', striker, started at an age of 18 in season 1 (was sold for 3.1 million mid season 5). *'Marius Achim', close to superstar striker, bought as 17 year in the middle of season 1 for £61.000. Achim was sold at the end of season 6 for 5.500.000£ to OL Sum. *'Thor Pedersen', almost senior (18 year), central midfielder showed up at the beginning of season 2. *'Ibrahim Toroman', a very talented right midfielder (18 years old) was brought to the club on a free transfer at the beginning of season 2. *'Victor Landmeter', a very talented striker (18 years old) was bought for only £11.000 at the beginning of season 2. Sold late in season 6 to FK Lekrings for 1.419.141£ *'Verner Bertelsen', a 15 year old very talented right defender was spotted in the middle of season 2. *'Teodor Adamsen', a very talented striker was found in a youth tournament in the middle of season 2. *'Season 3' was very poor, no real talent was found and the transfer pool was spend on strengthen the first XI. *'Season 4' was an extremely good youth season - the one to remember, 4 talented players showed up at season start and talented players was bought. *'Anker Mathiesen', very talented central defender, age 14 started at the beginning of season 4. *'Ralf Moeller', superstar striker, age 14 started at the beginning of season 4. *'Emil Broberg', very talented right midfielder, age 14 started at the beginning of season 4. *'Marius Jacobsen', very talented left defender, age 15 started at the beginning of season 4. *'Chresten Elbaek', good close to very talented left midfielder (age 16) was found in the first youth tournament this season. *'Pedro Juarez', very talented center midfielder (age 17) was bought from NT Youngsters at the beginning of season 4, price £2.200.000. Pedro was sold at the end of season 6 to Draconic Warriors F.C. for 5.600.000£ *'Elmar Zeiner', good left defender was bought from NT Youngsters at the beginning of season 4, price £503.000. Zeiner was sold at the beginning of season 6 for £850.000 *'Jesse Hamalainen', superstar striker (age 17) with incredibly teamwork (50) and physical stats (43-40) was bought from NT Youngsters at the beginning of season 4, price £3.000.000 *'Zlatko Krkoc', very talented right defender (age 17) was bought from SIRK-team for only £97.000 *'Julian Korpacz', very talented left striker (age 17) was bought from WUJEK TEAM for £400.000. Korpacz has worked very hard to become a central striker. *'Season 5' was another poor youth season, speaking of the youth tournaments. But a few foreingers was brought in. *'Oliver Arentoft' was the only homeborn with a bit potential. He was 16 years then he showed up in the start of season 5 and his is a allround midfielder with a teamspirit of 50. *'Sredoje Djekic', very talented central midfielder (17 years) was bought for 503.000£ from Labudovo brdo. *'Nihat Ozkoc', very talented central midfielder (17 years) with an rating of 18 was bought for 2.400.100£ from NK West Mostar. *'Season 6' was one more poor youth season, season 4 looks better and better in retroperspecive. *'Severin Møller Madsen', 15 years old central defender with reasonable talent, started in the beginning of season 6 with a rating of 10. *'Maj Vrsec', very talented central defender (17 years) was bought for 1.000.000£ from AVTO - S. *'Season 7', at last we got a few decent players again. *'Steffen Wulff', 14 years old around player, starting out as central midfielder but can be repositioned if needed. Steffen has great teamwork and speed. *'Thor Christensen', 16 years striker with speed and aggression. *'Ulrik Rasmussen', 16 years old left midfielder with all the basic skills needed, aggression, teamwork, speed and strength. Ulrik is the only one to be very talented, both Steffen and Thor is good. *'Simon O'Feighney', a 19 years old superstar keeper was bought from NT Youngsters for 3.504.000£. *'Antun Margetic', a 19 years old superstar defender was bought from NT Youngsters for 4.502.000£, Antun has more speed than strength so he would be ideal as left defender or together with a strong central defender. *'Budo Cimbaljevic', a 17 years old very talented striker bought from Club Atlético Boca Juniors for only 2.501.000£. 'Players' Players currently in the squad (updated at the end of season 10, 20/2-2010) Games: total number of official games played League: number of league games played Champ.: number of Champions Cup games played Chall.: number of Challenge Cup games played Friendly: number of friendly games played 'Former players' Category:Football Clubs Category:Danish Clubs